


Blood Bonds

by Corvid_Knight



Series: Fantasystuck [2]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: F/F, M/M, Multi, my tumblr is knight-of-heart-and-art
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-05
Updated: 2018-11-10
Packaged: 2019-02-28 18:24:38
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 18,360
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13277274
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Corvid_Knight/pseuds/Corvid_Knight
Summary: Rose left her brother years ago, with her twin's help. She's hoped to see him, and known that she might never be able to.The hope's about to be realized, though.Sequel to Blood Dragon. (Formerly titled as "Family and Magic")





	1. Chapter 1

You are simply doing one of the many small, mindless tasks that keeping Jake's shop in order entails, checking a pile of ceramic pots for chips or cracks, when it hits you. Yes, you've experienced Dave's pain secondhand before, but not like this. _Never_ like this. It stabs through your chest and there is absolutely no way you can breathe or think beyond a pure feeling of horror and of fear—what's happened? What did your brother do to your twin? 

_He's going to die,_ the intuition in the center of your head whispers, and you can't think to dispute that. 

You _See._

_Ten years old, lying on cold stone floor and looking up at a ceiling lit only by a stone you enchanted for Dave._ He's lying next to you, touching you not at all other than how he's gripping your hand tight enough to hurt. You wish he would let you hug him. You wish he _could_ let you hug him. 

He won't look at you even if you turn your head and speak his name, either. That, you know from experience. Something about not wanting to look in your eyes when his face is this badly bruised. 

At least you've stopped the bleeding from the other wounds. 

One day your brother will kill Dave. You know that. You can't protect him, your magic is largely passive and (if anything) makes things worse when you attempt to protect him. One day he'll kill Dave, and it will likely be due to some thing you did, and perhaps then he'll move on to do to you what he does to Dave or perhaps he'll sell you off to someone who wants a tame magic-user. Not that they'll get their money's worth. Without Dave, you fully intend to die. 

_Ten is too young to think that_ , your intuition whispers, and you're unsure whether it's part of the memory or a rueful thought from the vantage point of thirteen. Not that it matters. 

"You gotta leave," Dave says quietly, not moving at all. You have your mouth open to protest when he keeps talking, calm and neither fast nor slow. "Eventually he'll go after you too, Rose, only reason he hasn't is cause I heal fast enough that he can just keep beating the shit outta me, if he does this shit to you I—" 

He stops, possibly because he can't hold back a sob. When you sit up and look down at him, his face is screwed up in what seems to be and probably is partly-physical pain, eyes squeezed shut not quite tightly enough to keep tears from trickling across the bruises around his eye and down his cheeks. 

You're afraid Dave will flinch away when you touch his face, but he doesn't react at all. Possibly, he's holding himself too stiff for that. 

"I don't intend to leave you," you tell him, brushing the tears off his face, as gentle as you can possibly be across the bruises. "Besides, we both know he'd fetch me back." 

"I can cover for you." His eyes open, and he blinks at you, chewing on his lip in a way you absolutely hate—he doesn't need to hurt himself beyond what's been done to him. "Couple days, at least. Maybe a week. You just gotta move, get as far away as you fucking can before he works shit out."

"I don't want to leave you." 

"Rose—" 

"I'm not going to leave you!" It's almost a shout. You can't help yourself. "I _won't_ , we both know he'll hurt you, he'll blame you for losing me—" 

"Rose." His hand, the one not laced through yours, comes up to lay a finger across your lips, waiting until you fall silent. "I'll be okay." 

"You will not," you say even though he's still touching your lips. 

Dave just shrugs, a very small movement that still makes him grimace and shudder in pain. "One of us oughta get out. You got a better chance out there than me." A very small, almost sarcastic smile. "Or I got a better chance of surviving here, at least." 

He.

He's right. 

You hate it, and he's frowning sadly because now _you're_ the one who's weeping, and—

_This isn't what you wanted or needed to_ See.

_So_ See _something else._

The memory loses its reality, immediacy, and you _See_ something else. 

_Bargaining away little hints of magic—nothing that takes a piece of your soul like the stone you made for Dave, nothing that'll last more than a year or two—for the permission to climb into the back of a wagon to the next town._ To be boosted up on a grey horse behind a laughing, amused boy who might not be pure human, but is certainly more of a gentleman than anyone else you meet. To be taken, village to town to hamlet to you don't know where, just far away from your brother and your twin. 

You know when he finds out you're gone. You wake up one night gasping, nose trickling blood and chest aching in sympathy for what's happening to Dave. That's when you meet her, really; she steps into the room you've paid for with a light show and a few enchanted torches, drawn either by your whimpers or the scent of your blood. And she soothes you, cleans the blood away and convinces you that there would be nothing you could do, if you did go back. 

Kanaya doesn't drink from you. Not that first time. 

_Not helping. Not_ helping. _You need to_ See _Dave, as he is now._

And you try. You try so hard, to _See_ Dave, to know what's happening to him now, but all you get is a stronger, brighter pain that seems to rip your chest open, a flash of red and white, and the taste of blood. Then something flashes through your hands, a pain so sharp that for an instant it's just pressure, and the empty flowerpot that you're still holding slips between your fingers and shatters, breaking any vestiges of concentration you were clinging to. 

"Rose?" Kanaya's voice, only a little concerned, but the worry scales up when you just shake your head and let your legs fold under you, rather than answer. "Rose, what happened, are you—" 

You try to _See_ again. "Try" is the operative word, because all you get is blinding pain and confused fear. Perhaps you lose consciousness for a moment, or maybe you just get lost in the magic, but when you can see again Kanaya is kneeling on the floor with you, her arms around you and her deep green eyes too luminous to be mistaken for pure human. Her fangs are out even though she's trying to soothe you, too: she's afraid. 

Dirk is here too. You didn't think he was even in the building, but he's watching you, crouching a few feet away, everything about him too sharp and bright and golden to really appear anything other than fey. You can tell that he knows when you come back to yourself, even though you're sure the pace of your sobbing doesn't change. And for once, he dispenses with everything unnecessary, asking a question that's not truly a question. "Dave?" 

"Dave." You choke on the word, holding out your hands to him. It's all you can manage, a plea for help that you know won't be answered. If Dirk could take your twin away from your brother, he would have when you first came here, if not maybe before. There is magic banning him (maybe all Fae, but definitely Dirk) from going near your brother, and as far as you know it's not breakable. "He—Dirk, please..." 

Dirk winces, one smooth motion taking him to kneel so he can cup your hands in his own. "I'm sorry," he whispers, eyes fixed on the dark red welts rising across your palms. "I'm so sorry, I _can't—_ " 

He doesn't finish the sentence. Instead, he goes stiff, eyes snapping up to meet yours. You see them flash from amber to pure burning gold, and the sight's enough that your breath catches in your chest. His hands tighten around yours, crushingly hard for a moment that's too brief for you to make a sound, and then he's on his feet. Every small movement he makes leaves pale golden afterimages in your vision. 

"Dirk?" Kanaya asks. You're glad she does it. You can't speak. 

He shakes his head, focused on something you can't begin to see, confusion and hope spreading across his face in equal measure. "Tell Cronus and Jake I'm coming back." 

"What on earth is going _on_?" Oh, you can sympathize with the panic under Kanaya's tone. 

"Things." Damn enigmatic Fae. "Put her to sleep. Tell them the contract's dissolved. I'll be back." 

And he's gone, but for a faint golden mist, and you lean into Kanaya as she sinks her fangs into your shoulder. Darkness is mercy.


	2. Chapter 2

Like the few other times Kanaya has used her vampiric nature to force you into sleep, you have no idea how much time has been lost when you wake up. The first two things you are aware of are her arms around you and the deep ache in your chest. The latter is less than before, but it still _hurts._ The worry for Dave that it provokes certainly isn't helping at all, either. 

Kanaya nuzzles at the back of your neck when you can't help but raise a hand to touch the sore place in the center of your chest. Surprisingly, your fingers meet bare skin; she's changed you from your own dress into one of her tops, the extra fabric gathered and tied at the neck so it will stay on your smaller frame, the hem only coming to a few inches above your navel. On her, it would cover her breasts and probably nothing else. 

There is a welt just below where your ribcage ends. You don't look down at it, but you can feel the angry warmth under the raised strip of skin. 

Kanaya sighs, her cool hand moving to rest on your stomach, covering your own. "Dave will be all right," she murmurs into your ear, pressing a kiss to your neck. "Death is not one of the scents I picked up from you while you were sleeping."'

"That's not even close to a guarantee that he isn't dying now, Kan." Gods, but you absolutely hate your own reasonable, calm tone. You have no right to be like this. "How long has it been? Has Dirk come back yet?" 

You can feel her shake her head even if you can't see without turning. "A day and a half. Jake's been soothing Cronus, or trying at least." 

"I don't understand why he left in the first place." 

"To fetch Dave." 

"Dirk can't go near my brother or anything my brother owns." You asked him about that, when Kanaya first brought you here. If you could conceivably make some fae bargain to have him bring your twin to you, away from your brother. 

You remember the way the light faded out of his eyes a little when he answered, and you don't need to _See_ the past to remember his exact words. 

_If I could take Dave away from him, you wouldn't have to bargain with me to do it. You never have to make bargains with me, anyway—blood ties are enough to let even fae forgive most debts—but there's a contact that keeps me from giving that bastard what he so richly deserves._

A contract. 

"Kanaya?" 

"Yes?" 

"Dirk. He said a contract was broken, didn't he? Or am I just imagining it?" 

She makes a soft, interested sound, her lips pressed close enough to your skin that you feel it as much as you hear it. "He said 'dissolved.' Which would indicate an end caused by the sudden incompetence of one of the parties in said contract—"

"Kanaya." Her tone's shifted to that one you know so well, the voice she uses when she's reeling out information on something she knows as part of her heritage. Under any normal circumstances, you'd love to listen, but at the moment you feel suspiciously close to tears as you try to parse meaning out of her words. "Could I convince you to put it in terms that an idiot can understand, perhaps?" 

"As long as you promise me that you're not attempting to attach the term 'idiot' to yourself." She laughs, a softly comforting sound that drives a little of the tension out of your shoulders. "A broken contract is one that's been invalidated by having the terms ignored. Usually by the creator of the agreement. A dissolved contract is one where one or more of the participants are no longer capable of abiding by the agreements. The most common cause for that is death." 

Things click into place in your head. 

"My brother's dead."

"Dave isn't—" 

"No, _Dave_ isn't, _Bro_ is!" You twist out of her arms to slide off the bed, stumbling just a little and shrugging off her hands as she steadies you. As much as you love her, right now you need to move, balance the surge of tangled-up emotions you've just tipped off with some release of energy. "Dirk wouldn't leave if there was nothing he could do, he's practical even when he's being dramatic...he can't touch Dave as long as he's still our brother's ward, and he'd never let Dave go of his own free will...I _know_ they were bound by some kind of contract, Dirk told me—" 

You keep talking, but stop listening to yourself, letting whatever art of your mind that you don't need for magic take over the words and trying to _See_ as you pace through the room, trying not to trip on the too-long skirt Kanaya's put you in. The magic resists you for a moment, showing nothing but darkness as you try to _See_ through Dave's eyes, but when you give up on that and switch to looking _at_ him? 

_Dragon._ You've never seen one before, not in person, but there is nothing that the beast curled around your twin's limp form could be. It's licking at his chest, sinuous tail wrapped tightly around his arm, and when it tilts its head a little you can see clear, wet streaks down the red-scaled face. 

Jake's books are quite adamant about the dangers of dragons. You could easily believe that this one is dangerous—you have a suspicion about what caused the contract's dissolution now—but not to Dave. You're fairly sure that Dave is safer than he has ever been, assuming that he can recover from that wound. 

Since you see very little (if any) blood, that seems like a safe assumption. 

"Rose," Kanaya says softly, with a note of amusement in her voice, "you have repeated the same sentence five times. You haven't eaten for a day and a half; you are going to make yourself faint if you use the sight like this." 

She does have a point, but... "I see Dave." Well, _saw_ Dave; your concentration broke the moment she spoke and all you're left with now is a fading afterimage, a memory, and an empty growl in your stomach that almost matches the ache in your chest. "There's a dragon with him." 

"A _what_?" You don't think you've ever provoked such a shocked tone from Kanaya before. When you look over at her, you see that her fangs seem more obvious than usual, a good sign that she's either nervous or excited. Possibly both. "What do you mean, a dragon?" 

"Are there really so many ways that could be taken?" Kanaya almost certainly does not deserve the eye-roll you aim in her direction. "A dragon. Perhaps the size of a horse, perhaps a bit larger—you know it's hard to judge size through the sight—red, not quite crimson, more feline than avian under the reptilian traits, um..." 

You are usually capable of describing things much more effectively than this. Then again, it isn't like you're exactly thinking straight at the moment. 

Kanaya steps closer to you and takes your hand, meeting your eyes and tilting her head in a silent request for permission. When you nod she raises your hand to her lips, pressing a gentle kiss against the back of your wrist before just barely nicking your skin with one fang. You don't even feel it, but a drop of blood wells up, dark against your pale skin, and she puts her tongue out to wipe it away. You're careful to keep the image of Dave and the dragon in the front of your mind, maybe not _Seeing_ but something close enough to it that she'll pick up the image through the small exchange of magic that goes with any transfer of blood. 

After a moment Kanaya looks up again, green eyes a bit glazed with confused. "A dragon. Not quite a baby dragon." 

"Precisely."

"But..." She stops. Sighs. Adjusts her grip on your hand so she can pull you towards the door. "Come on. You need to eat. Then maybe you could look again and clear this up." 

You are not going to argue with that. 

Hal is in the kitchen, and Kanaya looks at you in concern when you can't stop yourself from flinching as you come through the door and see him. (Them? You can't tell what phase Hal is in. Agitated, obviously; circling the room and muttering words you can't quite hear, opening every cabinet and leaving them open before he makes another round and slamming each shut.) Hal does not usually look this much like your brother, and although you're sure the white-blond hair and the build that's only thin because all he carries is muscles _has_ to be a coincidence, you still want to back up and hide in your room until he's gone. 

"Hal." Kanaya, having never dealt with anything other than reflected memories of your brother, does not have the same reaction you do. "A different form, please?" 

"What?" Hal stops opening cabinets to look at you, and blinks in dismay at the expression on your face. "Oh. Fuck." 

It's a series of small changes—hair just a little longer and closer to pure white, body softer and less inherently threatening, a few inches of height lost—but you are very aware of how much anxiety the adjustment drains away from you. 

When their eyes and the red tracery on the side of their face lose the inner light of transformation, Hal spreads their hands and offers you an apologetic look. "Better?" 

"Very much." You nod and let go of Kanaya's hand, going to one of the few unopened cabinets and taking the first obviously edible thing that comes to hand—some kind of pastry filled with what you're hoping is meat. Although fruit would be more than acceptable. "What's got you upset?" 

Hal huffs and leans back against the counter as you take a bite. (Sausage, and you thank whatever god decided to let this one thing go completely right.) "There's magic all twisted up between Dirk and me right now, I don't know where the fuck he is, Jake and Cronus will neither tell me anything nor make a deal with me so I can use magic to go find him and ask him myself, and it's frustrating as hell." The cup on the counter probably does not deserve the angry look they're giving it. "Fuckers." 

"Every time you make a deal with Jake, you give him reason to regret it," Kanaya points out reasonably. 

"It's not my fault he's an idiot and bad at bargaining. Besides, he could _tell_ me where the hell my own dear brother went." You almost choke on your food at the pure sarcasm in those last four words. Hal gets amusing when they're annoyed. The annoyance isn't exactly unwarranted, either; knowing that they have the _ability_ to use most fae powers and not being allowed to tap into said powers unless they make a deal to act in another's service at least briefly, must be unimaginably irritating. 

"Hal?" They focus on you immediately, red eyes pulsing with light in a manner that's highly disconcerting. "I don't believe the others know where Dirk is; you might want to redirect your annoyance." 

"They could still make a fucking deal with me," Hal grumbles, crossing their arms. 

" _I'll_ make you a deal." 

"No she will _not,_ " Kanaya interjects quickly. 

"Hush, love." You do know what you're doing, actually. Yes, the doppelganger could cause you substantial harm through a badly worded deal, but he won't. It's Hal. "I'll pay you an enchanted stone in return for you to examine and report on the whereabouts of Dirk. And of Dave." 

They're nodding for the first half of your request, but frown at the second. "I can't go near Dave." 

"Humor me, Hal. A report of your inability to get close to him is still a report. All I'm asking you to do is look." 

"Hm. I accept your bargain, then." Hal grins, showing teeth that look a good bit sharper than human, and just disappears.

Kanaya lets out a slightly-irritated breath. "I assume you do know how inadvisable making deals with that sort of fae is—" 

"Kan, please. It's Hal." The sausage pastry is gone, and you stop to stretch up on your tiptoes to kiss her cheek on your way to the door. "He has manners enough to not trip me up when I'm doing him a favor, even if I am technically controlling him for the moment. Now come help me find a rock." 

She is not convinced of the safety of your actions. You can tell. She still follows you out to the yard, and she's the one to find the nice palm-sized stone you choose to use. When Hal materializes five feet from you, you've pulled enough light into the crystalline structure that the glow's apparent even in the midmorning sun.

"So?" you ask, and toss them the rock. 

They reach out to catch it, then shake their head and stop the motion to let the stone fall to the ground, and you see that their hands are bloody up to their wrists. "Dirk's fine and annoyed at me, I owe you a favor to be called on whenever you choose, and _Dave_ has a fucking red dragon that's willing to kill to protect him." 

"You didn't hurt them, did you?" 

"What?" The look Hal gives you is pure bafflement until they remember the blood on their hands. "Oh. No, the dragon didn't even see me. The blood's from somebody that was already dead." 

"My brother." 

"Bingo. One of the messiest corpses I've ever—" 

" _Hal,_ " Kanaya warns. 

"Yeah, I'm shutting up now, I've fulfilled my half the bargain." They shake their head, wiping their hands on their shirt. (The bloodstains only persist on the cloth for a moment before sinking in and disappearing.) "And you've held up your end. I'll be around when those two get here, by the way. They look interesting." 

"So they're coming?" you ask, a second too late. Hal's already leaned down to pick up their payment and vanished again. "Damn." 

Kanaya laughs and wraps her arms around you. "Of course they're coming. That's why Dirk went, remember?" 

True. Now you just have to make an attempt to be patient. Not really one of your strong points, but the reward is worth it.


	3. Chapter 3

Eleven days. 

It takes that long for your twin and the dragon—and presumably Dirk, although from the peeks you _See_ as often as you dare it seems he's staying out of sight of the two of them—to make their way here. The only warning you get of their arrival is when Hal materializes next to you, startling you into dropping _another_ flowerpot. 

That one was already painted and glazed, too; Jake is going to be annoyed if you keep this up. "Hal—" 

"Yell at me later." Their red eyes are filled with excitement and amusement, giving off little heatless sparks, but their tone stays smooth and calm as they take your hand and pull you towards the door. "There's more important things for you to attend to right now, trust me—" 

"I'm sorry; what?" Even though Dave has been very nearly the only thing on your mind for more than a week, you don't immediately connect Hal's excitement with that. Maybe it's that you don't really expect him to come here. To come back to you. Anyway, at the moment you're simply confused as you let Hal pull you wherever they choose. "I don't—" 

And then they step through the door and let go of you, holding it open so you can see, and you can't breathe. 

He's taller. A little taller. You don't think he'll ever be as tall as your brother is— _was_ —but he's gained height a little faster than you have, you can tell that much. There are no dark stains or too-straight, mended rips in his shirt. No bruises anywhere you can see. There's a crow on his shoulder and an auburn-haired boy at his side, and he looks paler than you think you remember him being (although you know that's a trick of your mind) but he smiles like you've never seen him smile before, dropping the bag he's holding as he spreads his arms.

"Rose?" He says your name quietly. Barely even like a question. 

You, on the other hand? 

You shriek and more-or-less dive down the few steps that lead to the door, slamming into his arms and knocking him back a few steps. The crow caws in alarm, taking flight and circling briefly before landing on the redhead's shoulder. At some point you will want to examine both the boy and the bird—the former pulls at your mind like he's a magnet—but right now you wrap your arms around Dave, press your face against his shoulder, and hold on as tightly as you can. 

At least until he stifles a groan and you remember that he's been hurt recently. "Oh gods, Dave, I'm sorry—" 

He doesn't let you pull completely away, but he sighs in relief as you loosen your grip. "Nope. No sorry. Holy _fuck,_ Rose..." 

You are not all that surprised to see tears on his face when you look up. Your eyes aren't exactly dry either. 

"I missed you." You say the words precisely as Dave says them, and the boy with the crow laughs a split second before you and Dave do. 

Dave looks away from you and at him, his smile widening even more. "It's _Rose_ ," he says. 

"I see her." The boy smiles back at him, and at you. It's an unbelievably fond look, and you see that he looks even less human than Cronus does; those eyes belong on a cat more than anyone human, and his red curls only _mostly_ hide elongated ears and tiny, brighter red horns. "I told you she'd be here." 

"You did." Dave looks more than a little dazed, nodding slowly as he loosens his grip enough to let you step back. "You...ah, holy fuck." A crow—not the one from before, that one's still perched on the dragon-boy's shoulder—dives down to settle on your twin's shoulder as soon as you're not hanging onto him, and he strokes its feathers gently. "Sorry. Rose, this is Karkat." A nod to the other boy, whose grin falters noticeably as he raises one hand in greeting. "He's—he saved my life." 

You wonder what Dave was about to say before he caught himself. That's something you can figure out later. For now, you smile at Karkat. "I think I owe you rather a lot, Karkat."

A good many emotions flash across Karkat's face in a surprisingly short amount of time. You catch worry, embarrassment, confusion, and mingled pride and love in the moment before he looks to Dave again. "Nah. I owed him my life in the first place, and he's been paying me even beyond that too." 

"Oh? What the fuck're you talking about, dude?" Dave's tone is exactly the same as the rare occasions on which he'd tease you about meaningless things, and it's enough to immediately make you smile almost as wide as he's smiling at Karkat. "I'm paying you now? What do you mean, like this?"

The two crows switch shoulders when Dave steps close and leans closer to kiss Karkat's cheek. Your twin comes away with a proud grin on his face, and Karkat takes one look at you and goes deep red. (It's amusing. You would've thought his darker skin would hide a blush at least a little, but the reverse seems to be true; he changes color like a flower blossoming.) 

"Daaave," he half-groans, and covers his face with both hands. The crow pecks at his fingers. Dave laughs—gods but that's a good sound—and reaches over to coax the black bird off Karkat's shoulder and onto his hand, holding it out to you.

"This is Vita." The crow doesn't hesitate to step to your outstretched hand, wings spreading as you waver a bit at its weight. They fold just as quickly as you steady yourself, though, and Vita regards you with one brightly curious avian eye. "The other one is Spes. We're keeping them." 

The look on Dave's face is half-afraid. You know without asking that some part of him expects you to tell him that animals like that aren't meant to be pets for someone like him, or someone like you. You've heard it often enough from your brother. 

He won't hear that from you. Never. 

"Life and Hope." Vita pecks at your fingers when you go to pet her head; maybe she's attracted to the specks of paint left from detailing Jake's pots. "I can't believe you still remember the lessons I gave you on the old languages, Dave." 

"I remember everything you ever told me," he replies immediately, and then blinks, his face going completely unguarded and open. "I...oh." 

Karkat's hands come down from his face, embarrassment forgotten at whatever nuance of tone he's just picked up. "Dave?" 

"Yeah." Whatever it is that Karkat's worried about, you're not hearing it—your twin sounds okay to you. He holds his hands out to Karkat, though, and you realize he's shaking. "It's just...fuck. It's a lot." 

The other crow caws and takes flight, joining Vita on your other shoulder, as Karkat moves to take Dave's hands and pull him down to sit in the grass. Both Spes and Vita makes soft bird-sounds at you as you sit down as well, watching your twin and the dragon. 

(For a moment you _See_ him as a dragon, too, a graceful creature with wings folded around Dave protectively and eyes that burn with more light than you're capable of seeing. That form's overlaid across what you see properly, just two half-grown boys leaning against each other, one silent and the other speaking _almost_ silently, soft enough that you can't puzzle the words out from only a few feet away. Although you think you catch the words "I love you" in the litany, at least once.) 

"I'm fine," Dave says after a minute, shaking his head a little as he reaches over to link his fingers with Karkat's and looks back up at you. He's grinning again; the expression is as confused as it is happy. "Still getting hit by the whole 'Bro's gone' thing, I got my _sis_ and I got _you_ —" He stops, for just a second, to lean across and kiss Karkat's forehead. "—and apparently there's a fucking fae that says he's related to me—"

"Two fae," Hal corrects, from where they're perched on the railing by the steps. "Maybe three—I'll claim you as blood kin, and Cronus is probably going to admit some kind of bond even if it's not blood, but I'm not sure if you'd consider a stranded selkie as true fae." From their tone, Hal does not consider Cronus to be fae, but you'd argue against that conclusion. 

Dave actually takes a better look at Hal, and you can see the exact moment when their too-bright red eyes, how their teeth are too sharp for their mouth, and the fact that they're slowly and constantly shapechanging instead of bothering to choose a form and stick with it registers with him. "Oh...holy fuck." 

"Doppelganger," Karkat offers, looking up at Hal with an almost bored look. "Night fae, really fucking dangerous when they're not bound, right?" 

Hal huffs and scowls for just a second before smoothing their expression back to calm. "I'm always dangerous. Just ask Jake." 

"Jake?" Dave looks back at you for clarification, but it's Hal that supplies it. 

"One of my dearest _brother's_ —" (They really do not need to put that much sarcastic irony into the word. Really.) "—partners. Trust him to fall in love with a human and with a selkie." Hal stretches, balancing in a way that doesn't seem possible, before adding with questionable nonchalance, "Where'd you leave Dirk, anyway?" 

Dave shrugs, a little uncomfortably. "He said he'd deal with Bro's shit for me. Not that there's a lot worth having—" 

"Don't be so sure of that." Hal shakes their head, adjusting their position and not even trying to hide the interested smirk on their face. "Your brother may have been scum, but he was also enough of a businessman to keep me and Dirk off his back for a couple decades. Otherwise you would've never had to handle him in the first place." There's a definitely frightening flash of anger across the doppelganger's face as they add, " _We_ should've been the ones to have you. Both of you. We would've done better, whatever Dirk thinks of himself..." 

Dave and Karkat both look mildly confused, but you're praying that Hal keeps talking. They know _much_ more about how exactly you're related to them and Dirk than you do, and all your attempts at coaxing info out of them have been futile. Which doesn't sit all that well with your need to know and _See_ everything you can. 

Hal opens their mouth to say something else—you're actually going to get some kind of new information, finally!—but you _See_ a kind of pulse, centered on both Dave and Hal (and you, possibly) and the door to the shop opens again, and Hal twists to see who it is. 

Jake. And behind him, managing to make poor Jake look even shorter than he is, Kanaya. She blinks at the sight of you sitting on the ground, then smiles in delight as she realizes why. 

Dave returns her smile, albeit somewhat tentatively. 

Karkat takes one look at Kanaya and _hisses,_ his eyes going wide as he rolls up into a defensive crouch. His dragon-shadow that only you can see spreads its wings, baring its teeth as he hisses again, louder and rougher this time. For a moment you're absolutely sure he's going to shift, turn, attack. 

" _Karkat_ —" Dave jumps up only a second after Karkat moves, though, reaching for the dragon's (suddenly, you can't think of him as anything other than a dragon) shoulder. 

You flinch, more than a little afraid for him, but all Karkat does is give him a baffled, fearful look as he spins on his heel and stalks away, crossing his arms in front of his chest and not looking back. 

"Shit." Your twin sums up your thoughts quite well. He looks after Karkat for a second, then up at Kanaya and Jake (both of whom also look just as confused) before focusing on you. "I'll be back in a bit." 

And he half-runs after Karkat, leaving you with a crow on either shoulder and the unenviable task of explaining to Jake precisely what's going on.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> back to Dave's point of view for a chapter

Karkat doesn't stop walking when you catch up with him. He doesn't slow, doesn't even look at you, just keeps his head down and his hands clenched into fists by his sides. You know him just well enough to see this for the fear that it is, rather than the anger it looks like. 

It's still a good minute before you can steel yourself to grab his arm and pull him to a stop. He _looks_ angry, and that fucks you up. But you do it...and immediately flinch when he turns on you with a low growl. 

_It's Karkat. He saved me. Won't hurt me._

And his eyes are already wider with guilt for how he made you react, too. "Shit, Dave..." 

"No, hey. It's okay." You don't exactly let him go, but you do slide your hand down to lace your fingers through his. "It's okay...what was it, back there? That guy, or the girl?" 

"She wasn't a fucking _girl._ " Oh, yeah, it was her. That's what this is about. Karkat's eyes narrow when he mentions her, his shoulders hunching up like he's trying to protect himself from an expected blow. Your heart hurts, seeing him this defensive. This afraid. "She—you know my scars? The ones on my arms?" 

"Yeah." He's torn up there worse than you are in most places, scar tissue so thick he's got little or no feeling. All he's told you about the wounds than caused it is that they happened when he was little, and that the same people who killed his family did it to him. 

"Fucking— _things_ like her. Not her, but...shit." Karkat shivers, rubbing at his arm with his free hand until you capture that one too. He won't look at you, though, those amazing crimson eyes darting from the ground to the sky and anywhere else, so long as it isn't your face. "Vampires. They wanted my blood, Dave, they _took_ my blood, fucking—over and over again, I couldn't...oh, gods." 

When you step closer he leans against you, closing his eyes and lowering his head. He's even warmer than usual, horns burning hot enough to hurt when your chin brushes against them. 

"I know," you whisper to him, not backing off despite the heat. 

All that gets you is a tired snort that sounds a little like a sob. "You don't fucking know, Dave." 

"I know that you're fucked up over this. I know it hurts." You're not going to make him look up, but even with his head bowed you can kiss his forehead. And you do. "You're scared." 

"Yeah." He shrugs like it's nothing and twists his hands out of yours, wrapping his arms around you and resting his head on your shoulder. At least he relaxes a little when you hug him back. "It's shitty. Stupid." 

"Nah. You got hurt bad. Not your fault shit that reminds you of it fucks you up. At least you didn't do what I did with Dirk." You came very close to injuring or killing the fae, when you first saw him. He looks very like your now-dead brother, after all. "Are you going to be able to handle going back and staying there, Karkat? Around her?" 

His grip on you tightens a little, but it's a minute before he answers, and his voice is very quiet when he does. "I'm not leaving you, Dave." 

That hadn't even occurred to you, honestly. 

"Man, if you can't be around her we can just...keep going," you tell him gently. 

"What the fuck?" He looks up to meet your eyes, finally, his expression pure confusion. "But Rose. Your sister." 

"Yeah, I know." You don't want to leave her. You _really_ don't want to walk away and come back gods know when, but... _I know she's okay. She'll be fine, she has people who can take care of her, and I_ need _Karkat._ "Offer stands. I'm not leaving you either, and I'm not gonna make you do something you can't." 

For a minute he just stares at you, confusion melting into something you can't read and then to something you definitely recognize: that look of love that you're slowly beginning to get used to from him, even if it takes you by surprise every goddamn time. Then he leans forward and kisses you, on the lips this time. It sends a warm surge through all your body, relaxing you even though you still don't know what his answer's going to be. 

"I can figure it out," he murmurs, still close enough that his face almost touches yours. "Not like she's going to hurt me. She won't hurt me." 

"I won't let her hurt you," you agree, pressing another kiss to his lips and smiling as you get a soft purring growl out of him. "I swear, cross my heart and hope to die—" 

"Don't you fucking _dare._ "

"I won't break my promise, so it won't be a problem, right? Can we go back now?" 

"Yeah."


	5. Chapter 5

Probably the only reason that you succeed in not panicking when Dave walks away is the fact that you still have his crows. You know he wouldn't hesitate to leave almost anything else—belongings can be replaced, after all, and you know that Dave only has a few items he'd worry about losing, that he carries with him—but the birds are more like his children than pets. He wouldn't abandon them.

Of course, that does not mean you don't get worried more or less immediately when he's out of sight for more than a few minutes. Introducing the crows to Kanaya and listening to Jake and Hal bicker over where exactly Dirk is takes a little of the anxiety away, though. 

By the time Dave and Karkat come back, Kanaya is cooing at the crow perched on her arm and Jake is listing all the reasons that Hal is _not_ a reputable source of information (again). You transfer Spes to Kanaya's lap—where he immediately starts inspecting and attempting to judge the edibleness of the embroidery on her skirt—and look up at Dave. 

He grins, waving at you with the hand that's not linked with Karkat's. "Hey. Told you I'd be right back." 

Karkat glances at Kanaya and bares his teeth a little. It's a very obvious threat-display, but also a mostly-subconscious one, and you're happy to see that Kan chooses to answer it with a smile of her own. One that doesn't show fangs. Karkat blinks and shakes his head a little at that, his mouth twisting into a frown for a second. "Sorry," he mumbles, moving a little closer to Dave. "I..." 

"He's not used to vampires," your twin supplies, offering Kanaya an easy grin. You're definitely aware that he's covering up some of what's going on with the dragon, but you certainly aren't about to make an attempt to uncover it. Not right now. "Even if they are as pretty as, uh—" 

"Kanaya." She says it at the exact same time you do, gives him a grin that doesn't hide her fangs at all, and adds, "I didn't exactly mean to alarm you, though. Apologies." 

"Not exactly your fault." Dave shrugs, clicking his tongue twice. Both the birds perk up, looking at him for a moment before taking flight, flapping up to land on his outstretched arm. He coaxes one onto Karkat's shoulder, smoothing the other's head feathers down as he looks up at Jake. "Uh, hey. Dirk kind of told me to come here—you're Jake, right? I'm Dave, I—"

He stops at the sight of the delighted grin on Jake's face. "Rose's Dave? Dirk's, um, cousin? Is it cousin? I'm never entirely sure about all that faerie business—" 

"I'm not fae," Dave points out, looking more baffled than ever. His crow croaks and pecks at his ear. "But...yeah, he told me we were related. Not a lot else." Guilt flashes across his face, and his shoulders slump a little as he reluctantly adds, "Uh...I kinda didn't give him a chance, honestly. Kinda freaked out when I first saw him." 

"He looks like that _bastard,_ " Karkat mutters, not looking at anything but the ground beneath his feet. "Doesn't fucking feel like him, but Dave, you don't feel shit like I can. It's not your fucking fault." 

At this point, Jake looks a bit concerned. "Just to clarify, my husband's still alive and relatively undamaged, right?" 

"Your—oh." Dave blinks, then nods quickly. "Yeah, of course, I didn't actually hurt him, don't think I could—" 

" _I_ could," Karkat points out, looking up at Dave. The look on his face is so fiercely protective it's somewhat frightening. "If he tried to hurt you—" 

"Dirk isn't gonna hurt me." 

"He scared you. Really fucking bad, I saw that shit—" 

"Yeah, and he apologized." Dave smiles, and leans over to press a kiss against Karkat's cheek, wincing as Spes grabs a beakful of white hair and yanks. "Ow. And you talked me down, remember? I was okay. I'm okay." 

"Okay," Karkat agrees, visibly relaxing at the contact Dave gives him. "I know, I know, calm the fuck down." 

Jake clears his throat, drawing everyone's attention—well, other than Hal, who is alternating between examining their nails and watching Karkat. "But you'll be staying with us?" he asks. "Unless you have other plans, of course—" 

"Yeah, no, that was what I was gonna say, sorry." Your twin sighs and looks down, absently stroking Vita's feathers for a second before looking up again. "Dirk told me to, uh. Come here, say he sent me, that I could stay? You'd let me stay?" And, quickly, "You don't have to, though, I get it if you don't wanna deal—" 

"I've absolutely no problem with one more houseguest," Jake answers before Dave can flounder any more, giving him a bright smile. "Well, two, obviously we'll be taking care of the both of you. And your pets too, I promise; Jade should love them actually!" 

Dave blinks in confusion at the mention of pets, then nods as he realizes that Jake means the birds. He looks truly baffled at the thought of being taken care of by this man he doesn't even know, and you don't really blame him. Cronus is going to confuse him even more, you think, and you can't hide your smile at the thought. 

Karkat's watching you, you notice. He reluctantly smiles back. 

"You ought to take him and show him the house," Jake says brightly. "I'll hold down the fort here; it's not as if we're swamped with customers today—" 

"I'll be glad to stay and assist you," Hal offers sweetly, and Jake gives them a disgruntled look. 

"Please don't." 

They just laugh and settle themself more comfortably on the railing. It's quite obvious that they don't intend to leave Jake alone for the foreseeable future, and Jake himself looks considerably less than thrilled about that. Kanaya shakes her head and pats Jake's shoulder. 

"I think I'll stay and help you wrangle them," she offers calmly. "Rose can be the tour guide today." 

"For Dave, anyway." Karkat mumbles the words. "I need to not be in a fucking house right now...I'm going to walk, okay?" 

Dave nods. "Take Spes, though. He's better at finding me." 

The smile that the dragon gives your brother is unbelievably sweet. They love each other _so_ much, it's so ridiculously obvious that even Hal is grinning to see it. "Don't be a fucking idiot; I'm not about to lose you." 

"I know." Dave leans over to kiss Karkat's cheek, pushing the crow onto his shoulder and letting Vita hop over to perch where Spes was. "Take him anyway—makes me feel better about things, okay? See you in a bit." 

Karkat nods and turns away. Once he's out of earshot Dave scoops up his bags off the ground and slings the straps over his shoulder, looking over at you. "Lead the way, Rose."

* * *

Dave's mostly quiet as you walk him through the rooms, pointing out whose is whose and stopping to let him leave his things in one of the empty ones. He's tense when he first steps in, glancing around at the bed and stepping over to the window. 

"Karkat's going to want to sleep in here too." He's trying very hard to make that sound nonchalant; you can still hear and understand every nuance of your brother's tone. That fact gives you a very strong sense of nostalgia, of memories of what used to be, and you have to blink to make your vision clear. "Some of the time, anyway...sometimes he's gotta be outside, which means I wanna be out there with him, keep him from working himself up if something happens..." 

"That's fine, Dave." You sit down on the bed. It's noticeably softer than yours, and smells faintly of down feathers. "You're allowed to sleep wherever you like; no one's planning to punish you for that." 

"Oh." He smiles, an expression that carries at least a little bit of shame, and abandons the window to come sit next to you, hesitating for a moment before he holds out his arms. (You don't hesitate to scoot closer and let him hug you, or to hug him back.) "I didn't think the fact I was worried about that was so obvious, damn." 

"Well, anyone else wouldn't've known," you point out. "I _do_ know you quite well, dearest brother. Even if it's been awhile." 

"Too fucking long." He sighs and cocks his head, blinking as he looks you over. "...I missed you." 

"I know, Dave. I missed you too." You pull him closer, and—amazingly—he _lets_ you. Then again, right now there isn't any reason he can't. "I'm sorry I couldn't come back for you." 

"Rose, holy shit." Dave laughs and leans against you. "I was gonna apologize for not making sure you got away okay." 

"You did make sure." 

"You know what I mean." 

"I really don't." 

He just shrugs. "You did get away, at least." 

"And so did you, finally." 

"Thanks to Karkat." Dave says the name like it's the most important word he's ever learned, smiling more than a little bit. "He's...he saved my life, you know that? Like, I'm not just saying that, he fucking—I'd be dead. If it wasn't for him, I'd be dead." 

"I owe him, then." You don't like the idea of Dave dying; it makes you shiver and want to draw magic around him and yourself like a shield. Not that it would help. "He doesn't like Kanaya, does he?" 

Another shrug. "He's afraid of her. Like I'm scared of Dirk, even though I don't _really_ think he'll hurt me. Part of me is one hundred percent sure he's like Bro because they look alike, y'know?" 

"I do." You don't have that problem with Dirk; your _Sight_ shows him as bright and wholly different from your brother. Sometimes Hal triggers that visceral fear-reaction, though, when they forget that you have issues with their default form of Dirk's shadow-self. "He'll try to change how he looks, if you ask him." 

"Nah. I'll deal." Dave runs one hand through his hair, making a grab at Vita as she caws and flaps off his shoulder. The crow evades easily, of course, flying over to perch on the dresser and inspect the mirror. "Hey, c'mere—they're gonna get mad if you mess that up." 

"She's fine, Dave. She can't hurt anything that we can't fix." You'll let him go if he really tries to gdet up, of course, but until he actually pulls away you intend to sit here with your arms around him. "Besides, you've quite obviously trained her to be polite." 

"Yeah, we're working on that." Dave clicks his tongue and sighs when the crow continues to ignore him. "Karkat can make them understand him sometimes; it makes them even easier to train. He says they're too stubborn, though." He looks at you, eyes brightening for a second as he stifles a laugh. "And I mean, he's not wrong, but he's just as stubborn; he'll argue with the damn birds until they do what he wants. It's cute." 

"Your dragon _is_ very cute." 

"... _my_ dragon." He laughs again, confusion flickering across his face for a moment. "Is he?" 

"He seems to be. I think you might count as his, as well?" 

"Yeah." He nods and sighs and holds out his hand as Vita flaps back over, pulling his hand in as she lands and kissing her head. "...that's a good thing, you know? Like, Bro owned me, you remember how he'd tell us we were _his,_ his property, we belonged to him? This isn't like that. This is different." 

"I know, Dave." You do remember that. You don't like thinking about that memory, or about the fact that Dave shares it. "He never owned us, though." 

"Yeah, he did." He shrugs, frowning as he thinks for a second. "...like, not totally, especially not you. I gave up on ever getting out, you know? Even before you left." 

"I didn't know that." 

"Didn't want you to. Figured you wouldn't leave if you knew I wasn't going to be able to." 

He's probably right. "I would have made you come with me, probably." 

You don't expect the violent head-shake from him, and neither does the crow; she caws and hops off of his arm, jumping up on your shoulder instead. "No. Nope. That's not even fucking funny, don't even say it, he would've caught us both, dragged us both back and beat the shit out of me, probably you too, it's not—" 

"Dave." You reach for his hand and sigh as you realize that he's shaking a little. "He's gone. It's all right." 

"I know." His first breath out is shaky as he squeezes your fingers. The second is more steady. "I know, I _know..._ look, I'm not saying that you don't make me feel better, but can we go find Karkat? Please?" The look he gives you is unsure and a little afraid, although the latter emotion lessens when you smile at him. 

"Of course, Dave." You lean over and kiss his forehead...and almost start crying when you think of the fact that the last time you did that was years ago. "Come on. Hal should be able to find him quickly, if the crow can't."


	6. Chapter 6

Dave leads the way back to Jake's shop, a few steps ahead of you the whole way. When you try to step up next to him he walks faster, although he'll slow again when you stop trying to walk next to him and fall back. 

You file that observation for later consideration. It means _something,_ after all; all behavioral quirks mean something. Dave's need to stay ahead of you when he's in this obviously-nervous state of mind is significant. Maybe. 

You're still working on analyzing people. 

Anyway, Hal is still outside on the steps, playing absently with the stone you traded to them a few days ago and looking a little more like your brother than you're entirely comfortable with. They look up when Dave gets closer, raising one eyebrow. 

"That was fast; something wrong?" 

Dave shrugs uncomfortably, crossing his arms in front of his chest in a motion that's unmistakably defensive. "Nothing's wrong, not really. I just wanted Karkat, is all." 

"Fair enough." Hal nods and gets to their feet, frowning a bit at the even-more-uncomfortable look on Dave's face. "Want some help finding him, then?" 

"Uh..." Dave's nodding even though the expression on his face is anything but confident. "I, uh, I—" 

You're fairly certain that he's not going to be able to do anything other than stutter, for the moment, so you clear your throat and look up at Hal. "I don't suppose you could change your form a bit, perhaps?" you suggest. 

They blink, then nod, huffing out a sigh. "Sorry. I forget who I'm being when I fight with Jake; my apologies." Before they've finished their sentence they've shifted slightly, features changing just enough to take away that unnerving sense of worry. "Better?"

"Uh..." Dave does not really look less worried; you suppose that seeing a shapeshifter change could be the cause of that, though. He nods, anyway. "Yeah. Better. Sorry." 

"Sorry?" Hal tilts their head to one side, flipping the rock they've been playing with one more time and making it disappear when they catch it again. "For?" 

"Uh..." He has to think about that for a moment; you can see him almost decide on and reject a few possible answers. Even when he comes up with a response, he doesn't sound very sure of it. "For making you change because of me, I guess?" 

"Honestly, I'd prefer to not share a face with _that_ one." Hal shrugs. "You're doing me a service by reminding me to change it." 

(That is almost certainly a lie. Hal doesn't really care who they look like; as far as they're concerned, their face is _their_ face, no matter who they're emulating. You're not going to tell your twin that.) 

"I'll pay you another stone to locate Karkat," you offer, and Hal grins, shaking their head. 

"I think I'll pass on the rock. Besides, this is a service for Dave; he'll need to pay." 

Dave frowns in confusion. "Uh..." 

Before he can try to make an offer, Hal nods at the crow on his shoulder. "One feather. Wing or tail, whichever falls out first." 

"Uh." Dave certainly seems to be using that sound a lot today. "A feather?" 

"Crow feathers have magic." Hal holds out one hand and makes a soft cawing sound, and Vita doesn't even hesitate for a second before jumping over to them. They smile and hold the crow up, examining her for a moment before blinking in surprise. "...actually, this one has a hell of a lot more magic than is normal. Rose?" 

"Hmm." You focus on _Seeing_ anything unusual about Vita. Sure enough, the crow's brighter than can be considered normal, every feather lined with red light that's the same shade as what you see when you glance over at Dave. "She does, doesn't she?" 

"Is that a problem?" Dave frowns, reaching out for his crow and relaxing a little when Vita hops onto his hand. To your _Sight,_ magic starts cycling between him and the bird as soon as they're in contact with each other again. "Like, I don't think she's magic or anything, I just...you know how I find animals, Rose, right?" 

"Well." You blink and let the _Sight_ slip away from you, not that you want to do that. The flow of magic is surprisingly mesmerizing. "She's magic _now,_ to some extent. Probably because of her contact with you." 

"Why would that make her magic?" Dave asks, confusion filling his face. "I'm not—" 

"You're a _Strider,_ " Hal interrupts. "Of course you're magic on some level." 

"Bro wasn't." He actually winces a little as he continues, "Maybe I take after him." 

"No." You and Hal say it in unison, and they glance at you before they keep talking, their voice going more gentle than you've heard them before. "You're nothing like him. I knew him a hell of a lot better than you think I did, and the only thing that's even a little the same is your blood. Other than that, you're completely different, I swear." They shake their head, tapping their own chest with two fingers. "Besides, Dirk and I are the ones who're closer to being him, anyway. You're more like D." 

You're fairly certain that Dave's baffled look is mirrored on your own face. Neither Dirk not Hal's ever mentioned that name before, that you know of. 

"Who's—" Dave begins. That's as far as he gets, though, because several things happen at once. 

First, you _See_ that strange pulse that's centered on you, your twin, and Hal. 

Second, Hal's head snaps up, eyes widening as they focus on something beyond your range of perception. 

Third, Vita launches herself off Dave's shoulder, not so much cawing as _shrieking,_ a sound that sounds wrong for a crow to make. Her cries are answered by—or in answer to—a fairly-distant but still very, very _loud_ roar. 

"Karkat." Dave says it calmly, but he reaches back over his shoulder and pulls a shortsword that you hadn't even realized was strapped to his back. "Fuck, _Karkat—_ " 

"Dave, wait—" Hal starts, but your twin is already running. They look at you, leveling a finger to point warningly. "Rose, stay _here._ " 

You do not even consider following that order—you're only a few steps behind Hal as they follow Dave.

* * *

He's a dragon. You knew he was a dragon, of course, it shouldn't be surprising, but this is...this is...

Hal stops a good twenty feet away from the dragon, holding you back with one arm as you try to follow Dave, who doesn't stop despite the fact that Karkat's curled around the limp form of a child, licking at their face. His entire muzzle is streaked with blood, and he's growling softly. There's a furry, bloody form a few feet away from him, too—a wolf, you think, although it's been too mutilated to be sure. 

"Dave—" Hal starts, but your twin's already stepped in front of Karkat and dropped into a defensive crouch, face set in pure, panicked determination. "Dave, you need to—" 

"Fuck _off._ " He directs it at Hal, at you, at the people already gathering and muttering in worry or horror. Dave has his back to a being that could kill him casually, but he's looking at the humans like they're the ones he expects violence from. "Touch him and I'll kill you, I swear to all the fucking gods, don't you dare—" 

"Dave, please just calm down." Hal takes a step forward and immediately backs up as Dave snarls and raises his sword. "No one's going to—" 

They stop talking as a second kid, about the same age as the one Karkat's curled around, evades the five or six adults watching and runs forward. Dave frowns and blinks, but (thankfully) lowers his sword, rather than strike in misguided defense. 

Karkat raises his head, then gets to his feet more gracefully and quickly than you'd expect from a creature that size, tail twisting to wrap around Dave's wrist and wings spreading as his neck curves down to bring his head almost level with the child who's looking up at him. You can't read the draconian features, but the kid looks absolutely enthralled. 

"Oh... _wyrm,_ " they say softly, and reach out for Karkat. 

He mews like a cat and pulls back. 

The kid frowns, actually looks at the dead wolf and the other kid on the ground, and bursts into tears. Dave winces, drops his sword, and kneels down to pull them into his arms, glancing up as Karkat backs a few more steps away and...well, you find yourself at a loss for words to describe precisely _how_ he goes from dragon to humanoid. You try to watch and simply _can't_ ; you have to blink and when your eyes open the dragon is gone, and there's a dizzy-looking boy with blood all over his face. 

"Dave?" he asks shakily, reaching up to run one hand through his hair and freezing as he sees that there's blood on his fingers. "Dave, fuck, Dave, Dave, I—"

This time when Hal steps forward, Dave just shoves the still-bawling kid at them and turns to the dragon, steadying him before he can fall. "I'm right here, dude—" 

"They saw, fuck, Dave, they're going to—" 

"I'll fucking kill them if they do, I _s-swear—_ " Dave's voice breaks on the last word. 

You have had enough. Your poor twin doesn't deserve this, and you don't think the dragon does either, especially since you can see the child on the ground is breathing steadily, despite the obvious damage to their face. They'll lose an eye, probably, but with the amount of blood on them and on Karkat, you're amazed they're alive at all. 

But you push past Hal with a little more force than is necessary, pull up your too-long skirt and rip a strip off the hem—which you will have to apologize to Kanaya for later—and step up next to Dave, hesitantly reaching out to take Karkat's hand and try to wipe the blood off. 

It doesn't work very well, but you get some of it off. When you look up Karkat's staring at you as if you've just done something completely unbelievable, his mouth open just a little. There's a trickle of blood escaping from the corner. 

When you reach up to wipe that away, the dragon whimpers and clutches at Dave's arm, trying to turn his head away before going still. You stop moving as well, unsure what's wrong. 

"Karkat?" Dave whispers. As if the word is a trigger, Karkat shakes his head, face twisting in fear or pain. Then his eyes roll back and slide shut, and he simply collapses. 

Dave tries to support his weight, of course. He sobs in frustration as he can't manage it, guiding Karkat to the ground instead and wrapping his arms around him, not reacting at all when you kneel next to him and touch his shoulder. "Dave, please." 

"No." Your twin ducks his head and closes his eyes, hunching down protectively over the unconscious, humanoid dragon. "No, _fuck_ no, you're not taking him away, fuck that, _no..._ " 

"Hey." Hal has a sniffling child balanced on their hip as they step closer; they don't exactly look thrilled at that. "Dave, no one's taking him. Look at me." They wait for Dave to blink back tears and raise his head before they continue. "You're safe. He's safe. No one can take him away; I swear to that." 

Dave shakes his head slowly, pure distress written across his face. "They fucking _kill_ dragons—" 

"There's a kid there who shouldn't be alive right now, and is. Because of that dragon." Hal shakes their head, gesturing at the child on the ground and the several adults hovering over them. "He's safe. Even if he wasn't, anyone who wanted to hurt him has to go through _me._ " 

"And me," you point out gently, finally using your torn piece of cloth to wipe blood off Karkat's face. There's a _lot_ of blood in his mouth; some of it's managed to drip out as Dave cradles him, but you're a little worried he'll choke anyway. Dave makes a concerned sound as you carefully adjust Karkat's head so the blood's more likely to run out than back into his windpipe, but he lets you do it.

Once you take your hands away, Dave sighs shakily and wipes at his face with one hand. (That leaves streaks of blood across his cheeks; one more fact you'll keep to yourself for now.) "Don't—" he starts, then grimaces as his voice cracks on the word, closing his eyes for a moment before starting again. "Don't clean the blood off the kid's face. It's—it's how his magic shit works, the healing, Karkat told me. Leave that be." 

Hal nods and shifts the weight of the child they're holding, looking to the woman bent over the child on the ground. "You heard that?" When she nods, they look at the kid they're holding again. "What's your name, honey?" 

"Wyrm?" 

"The wyrm's tired right now. Maybe later he'll let you pet him. What's your name?" Hal is persistent, if not patient. 

The little one huffs and squirms, but they do answer. "Charun." 

"That's a _lovely_ name," Hal tells them, then looks up. "Alright, someone come get Charun before I take them home and tell Dirk we've adopted another one." 

The threat is effective; a man comes forward and extricates Charun from Hal almost immediately, letting the doppelganger kneel next to you, Dave, and Karkat, who hasn't moved even a little. Dave's watching Hal with an expression that's too scared for your taste. 

Hal doesn't move to touch Karkat at first, which is probably wise. Instead, they sit back on their heels and just watch Dave for a moment. "Will you let me carry him home?" they ask quietly.

Dave still recoils as if from a threat, cradling the unconscious dragon to his chest. "You can't take him away." 

"I won't. I swear it. Would you like me to swear on my name? On the gods? On the stars in the sky? Dave, I would die before I hurt you, and he's close enough to you that I can't hurt him either. I wouldn't _want_ to hurt him; do you believe that?" Hal leans forward to just barely brush their hand against Karkat's hair, smoothing dark red curls down around one small horn but not taking his eyes off Dave's face. "You're my blood. By extension, so is he. I mean that." 

"I..." Dave's face twists up. He's been crying this entire time, you think, but only now does his chest start to heave with stifled sobs. He nods, though, as Hal reaches for Karkat, and doesn't move to stop them. Instead he holds out his hands to you, silently asking for help standing. 

He leans on you like he needs it, too. "Dave, are you sure you can walk?" 

"Fuck yes I can." He nods grimly, eyes fixed on Hal. "Gotta. Need 'Kat. Come _on._ " 

And because you can understand needing someone, you nod and slide an arm under his shoulders and take some portion of his weight, following Hal towards home.


	7. Chapter 7

Dave manages to still his shaking by the time you reach the house, pulling away from you and wiping at his eyes with his forearm. That doesn't really prevent more tears from working their way down his face, but you're not about to offer him any help; he's already closer to breaking down than you like. 

The door opens for Hal before they get near it; you somewhat wonder how they're circumventing the rules on their magic. Perhaps this counts as performing a service, even if no deal was formally made. 

You'll ask them later, if you remember. 

Cronus is in the kitchen, grinning as he talks to John and Jade. That smile immediately evaporates when he sees Hal, and is replaced by a look of outright dismay as the doppelganger hands off the still-unconscious dragon to him.

"Hal, I don't vwant this—" 

Dave _flinches._ Perhaps Cronus doesn't notice, but Hal does. 

"You _have_ him. That's one of yours, fish boy—best take care of him." Hal pats the selkie's shoulder, then looks over at Jade. "I need your help for a bit." 

"Really?" She's already off the stool she was perched on, eyes bright and excited behind her round glasses and canine ears perked up to the most alert position they'll move to. "What're we doing?" 

"Tracking. Examining." 

"Hal, vwait—" 

"I'm afraid I can't do that, Cronus, but I'll be back in a bit." Hal offers an almost-apologetic smile, and nods at Karkat. "Clean him up and let him sleep, all right?" 

"But—" 

Hal and Jade are out the door before Cronus can finksh. He sighs, shoulders slumping a bit before he looks down at the boy he's holding and gives himself a small shake, as if he's shaking water off after a swim. 

"Be right back," he says, and heads out of the room. 

Dave...doesn't really relax, once Cronus is out of the room, but his bearing does change. It's like he wasn't breathing, like he was afraid to do anything that would get him noticed, and now he's allowed to not hold himself quite so closely. 

(In his mind, that may be the truth. You hate your older brother for making your twin feel this way.) 

But Cronus walks out, Dave lets out a breath and leans against the counter, closing his eyes, and John Egbert cocks his head to one side in that expression of curiosity that you're _very_ familiar with. 

Oh, dear. Here come the questions. 

"You're new, right?" That one's not truly a question but a statement of fact; John doesn't even wait to see if Dave will answer before he keeps going. "Is Hal gonna foster you? They haven't taken any kids for themself yet, just helped with Dirk and Cronus and Jake's. You've got blood on you; are you okay? Want a rag to clean up with? Was the other guy okay? He—" 

"Stop—" Dave chokes the word out, both hands coming up to cover his ears. He's almost gasping for breath; if John doesn't do what's just been asked of him, you'll try to use your magic to force him to. 

But the dark-haired boy is quiet as you put your hands on your twin's shoulders, guide him down to a chair, and a moment later John pushes a damp rag into your hands. To clean Dave's hands with, you surmise. 

Getting Dave to let you have his hands is a struggle, though. He doesn't want to lower them from his head; perhaps he _can't_ lower them. It takes a good few minutes for you to pull one away enough to wipe his pale skin clean of blood.

As you're doing that, Dave mumbles something unintelligible, keeping his eyes on the floor. 

"I'm sorry?" 

"...lost my fucking _sword._ " It's only a little bit clearer and no louder. "Need it. I'm so fucking—this is—he's not _safe,_ Rose, he's gonna get—I don't have my sword, I dropped it, I _left_ it, he's gonna get hurt and it'll be my fault—" 

"Dave, calm down. Hal will get your sword back." 

Does he believe you? 

You're not sure. He doesn't seem to, though; the only response he gives is to shake his head wordlessly and tug his hands away from yours again, wrapping his arms around himself and bowing his head. He's not going to talk to you, that much is certain, but you need some kind of insight into his mental state. 

So of course, you choose to do something that Dirk has told you not to do. You close your eyes and try to _See_ into Dave. 

If it was anyone else, it wouldn't work. _Seeing_ into Dirk or Hal's minds almost burns you, gives you nothing but painful radiance; Cronus gives you glimpses of something cool and alien, like looking into deep water; true humans like Jake or John give back only colors like shifting quicksand, easy to lose yourself in but yielding almost nothing useful. And the seductive nature of how your truesight perceives people's minds makes trying to _see_ them incredibly dangerous. 

But Dave is different. He's your twin; his mind fits together with yours, so that when you open your truesight to him you get emotions, snatches of thought, so clear and close and intimate that you can't bear it for more than a fraction of a heartbeat. 

That heartbeat gives you a dizzying amount of information, though. No fewer than four courses of action you need to embark on _right now_ , before Dave can get any closer to tipping himself off the edge. 

"Come on," you say to him, quiet and soothing and trying so hard not to let your voice tremble from the afterimages of his mind, "come on, Dave. Let's go, I know you need him, come _on_ —John, help me out here?" 

Because you can't get Dave on his feet by yourself, and he's certainly not going to be doing it himself. Your twin isn't actually unconscious, but he's definitely not fully present; his hands are clenched into fists, eyes open but unfocused as he flinches away every time you touch him. With John trying to pull him upright, it's actually worse; whatever level of recognition that Dave has with you just isn't present with John, and the dark-haired boy's touches just make him try to curl up on himself, anxious and in almost physical pain as he tries to get away.

John manages to get Dave on his feet, though, even if he does look over at you for confirmation that he's not doing something wrong every few seconds. You give him the closest thing to a reassuring smile you can manage (which isn't even close to a reasonable facsimile) and pull Dave's arm over your shoulders, waiting for him to lean on you before you guide him towards the door. 

"Is he going to be okay?" John is hovering, not literally but figuratively. There's really no other word for it. "He—" 

"John, would you _please_ stop talking." Thank the gods that Cronus left the door ajar; you nudge it all the way open with one foot, pulling Dave into the room. 

Cronus looks up in alarm at the broken sound Dave makes when he sees the dragon laid out on the bed, violet eyes going wide as he realizes what kind of state your twin is in. "Fucking _hell_ , Rose—" 

"Excuse me," you say, in the hopes that your politeness will make up for the fact that you're making a decent attempt to shove him out of the way so Dave can crawl up next to Karkat. (The aforementioned attempt is technically doomed; Cronus is easily twice your size. Dave makes it up onto the bed anyway, curling next to Karkat and burying his face in the dragon's shirt to muffle the sobs that're forcing their way out of him.) 

"Davwe?" Cronus says gently, apparently deciding to focus on the actual problem instead of on you. He reaches over for your twin, then blinks at you in betrayal when you grab his wrist. "Vwhat?" 

" _Don't_ try to make him move." 

"Look, I barely evwen got started cleaning him up—" 

"Well, you can just wait. John, keep Cronus from doing anything stupid for a minute, please?" 

"I don't even know what's going on!" Despite his complaints, John steps over to put himself between the two on the bed and Cronus, who just crosses his arms and sighs, probably in exasperation at having thirteen-year-olds try to manipulate him like this. 

Thankfully, in the time that it takes you to slip out of the room, hurry to Dirk's room, and snag the first sword that doesn't light your _Sight_ up with fae magic, Cronus doesn't get irritated enough to actually try to move John. Which is good, because as much as you love John, the boy has absolutely no idea what he's doing. That defensive stance is laughable. 

The selkie raises an eyebrow as you sit down next to Dave, resting the katana across your knees as you try to disengage your twin's hand from the sheet. "Okay, someone filling me in vwould be nice." 

You ignore him. "Dave. You need to let go, just for a minute." That gets you a sob, choked off into a whimper. "Dave, listen. Hal's going to bring back your sword, but you don't have to be weaponless. You're _not_ defenseless, all right? Not while you're here." 

He still won't let go or look up at you, so you carefully push the hilt of the sword up against his wrist until he latches onto it. As soon as he figures out what he's holding he exhales, some of the pure painful tension draining out of him. 

Cronus, who's been standing there patiently this entire time, sighs. Loudly. "Can I finish cleaning up the poor kid novw?" 

"As long as you don't expect either of us to move, yes." You nod, and rest one hand on Dave's shoulder. 

You hope that Hal comes back soon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> GUESS WHO HASN'T UPDATED THIS SINCE VALENTINE'S DAY


	8. Chapter 8

And they do come back soon, relatively speaking. At least, you think they do; by the time Hal steps up next to the bed and lays one hand gently on your shoulder, you're more-or-less asleep, curled up next to Dave as he clings to the unconscious dragon. It can't have been very long, though; when Cronus finished listening to your explanation he just shook his head and said he'd be back in a bit, after Dave calmed down, to finish cleaning Karkat up.

So. The term "soon" still applies. 

Hal's touch wakes you up more efficiently than words would have, to the point where you jerk away from Dave, eyes snapping open as you push yourself up. The doppelganger winces as you look up at them; you're guessing they used some small magic to wake you, and it came out a bit stronger than they meant it to. 

Which means they're upset, you think. Most of Hal's powers are tied to emotions, after all; strong emotions make the magic stronger, whether they want it to be or not. 

"What—" 

Hal shakes their head, one hand coming up to lay a finger across their lips in the signal for quiet as they nod at your twin and the dragon. When they speak, it's softer than a whisper. 

"Let them sleep. You can too, if you'd like, but I think...I think we all need to convene and discuss, after. Someone needs to make a deal with me, to fetch Dirk." 

They want to have Dirk come back sooner? 

All right, that's not good. Usually, Hal enjoys the time they spend relatively unsupervised; if they're ready to get Dirk back here after only a bit more than a week...

You pull away from Dave, careful to not disturb him, and push Hal towards the door into the hall. They go without a struggle, and as soon as you've shut the door behind you, you stand on your tiptoes, pulling at their shoulder until they lean down enough that you can press a kiss against their cheek. 

"That's payment in advance," you tell them. "Now go get whoever you think needs to hear about what you and Jade found out."

"Gladly." Hal nods, pulls away from your touch, and is gone before you can draw breath.

* * *

Jade is sitting in the kitchen, as is Cronus. And John. You're fairly sure that John is just here because he already was and decided to hang around and see what's going on; Cronus is looking between him and Jade like he's not quite sure how he ended up with this many children in his house. 

John grins at you when you come in, but it's Jade you're really interested in. She's perched on one of the high stools, arms crossed in front of her and white-furred canine ears flattened back against her head. 

You ignore the questioning look Cronus gives you, instead boosting yourself up onto the counter next to Jade, touching her shoulder. "What was it?" 

She whimpers, more like a dog than a human for a minute, hunching her shoulders down a little before she answers you. "A wolf. Just a _wolf_ , Rose, except someone...did something to it." 

"Karkat wouldn't have killed it if he didn't have to—" 

"No!" Again, it's not a human noise; you're fairly sure that if you checked with the _Sight,_ you'd see that she's close to shifting to her other form out of pure distress. "She wouldn't have hurt anyone on her own, Rose—she's seen me out in the woods before, I knew her! She just wanted to be left alone—" 

"Obviously she kinda didn't," John points out, and immediately retreats behind Cronus as Jade growls at him. "Come on, she almost killed someone—" 

"Because somebody did something!" 

"That doesn't even make—" 

Before John can finish his sentence, Hal (and Jake) materialize about a foot from you. Jake immediately jerks away from the doppelganger—from the way he almost overbalances, you're guessing he started the motion even before they went from _there_ to _here_ —slams into the table, and starts swearing as Cronus jumps to his feet.   
Before the selkie can ask what's going on, Hal's gone again, right before Jake's fist passes through the space where their head was an instant ago. This time, the only reason the poor man doesn't end up on the floor is that Cronus manages to get ahold of his shirt and use that to steady him. 

"Who the _hell_ made a deal with them?" Jake demands as soon as Cronus lets go of him, and you raise your hand. (So does Jade, oddly enough. Hmm.) "Rose, for the love of—" 

"Jake," Cronus says, softly, "enough vwith the yelling, maybe? Twvo of the kids're passed out in the other room; you'll hawve 'em up in another sec." 

"...oh." Jake huffs out a breath, dropping into the seat Cronus just vacated and raking his dark hair out of his eyes with one hand. "What happened?" 

Cronus looks at you. Then at Jade. Then at John, despite the fact that there is no logical reason that John would actually have any idea of the answer to Jake's question. Once it's obvious that he is, in fact, the one who's going to have to provide the aforementioned answer, he growls under his breath, frowning down at Jake and sitting down on the table itself rather than one of the unoccupied chairs. 

"Somewvone else's kid got attacked by a vwolf," he says, after a second. "The kid—" 

"Karkat," you supply. 

"Yeah, the dragon kid—he healed 'em and passed out, Hal brought the tvwo of them and Rose back here for me to handle, vwich I didn't actually get to do since Davwe had some kinda panic attack—" 

"It's not his fault—" 

"I know it isn't, Rose, vwould you calm dowvn?" 

Jake taps the table, waiting for you and Cronus to both look at him before he speaks. "So why am I here?" 

You shrug. "Because Hal thought you should be." And, at his exasperated groan, "They've just gone to get Dirk; you can just wait here and ask them yourself." 

"I ought to go back to the shop just to spite that enigmatic fucker," Jake mumbles, and Cronus laughs and reaches over to pat his shoulder, waiting for the human to look up so he can lean down and give him a quick kiss.

You're closer to John than Jade is, so you're the one who gets to smack him when he makes a disgusted noise.

* * *

It takes Hal a good fifteen minutes to bring Dirk back, which is actually faster than you expected. They materialize with a sound like a whip cracking, Dirk caught in the middle of a repetition of _fuck_ that you're willing to bet isn't his first. The fact that Hal has him in a headlock is almost certainly the main cause of this. 

John dodges behind you, this time; as soon as Hal releases Dirk, they slip behind you as well, keeping you and John between them and Dirk as the fae glares at them. 

Jake groans, gently bonking his head against the table. "Dirk." 

"Just a minute, I need to kill Hal." 

"No you do _not_ —" 

"Thank you, Jake." 

"Shut up; unless you've got an actual reason for dragging us here I'll help him beat the stuffing out of the rock you call your brain—" 

Hal nods, holding up their hands in a placating gesture. "Alright, both of you calm down. Rose, can you activate the wards, or should I go get Roxy?" 

"Why the wards?" Dirk asks, touching your hand to stop you before you can head for the sigil on the wall by the door. 

They just shrug, shaking their head. "Can't tell you until the wards are up." 

Dirk looks like he'd very much like to argue. You, on the other hand, are curious, and he's not actually holding you in place, just letting his fingers rest on your wrist. It's not even a little difficult to pull away, step over and lay your hand flat on the bright pink design. 

It's still a bit of an ordeal to push enough of your power into the sigil to activate it. You're not sure if that's because you simply don't _have_ enough to do this easily, or because you're too afraid to let your magic slip away from you without a struggle. And really, it doesn't matter either way; you _can_ manage this, with a little concentration and exertion, and that's what really matters.

John almost immediately proves that you succeeded in getting the wards up by poking at the empty doorway and yelping as sparks jump from the barrier there to his hands. Hal laughs and then goes quiet again, taking a deep breath. When you look over at them, there's a look on their changeable face that you don't quite recognized. 

Dirk does, though. "Fuck. That's what it is? You're sure?" 

"Do you think I'd drag you back if I wasn't?" Hal huffs, looking over at Jade. "Sweetheart, can you tell him what you told me? About the wolf?" 

"I guess?" Jade's face scrunches up in either distaste or concentration, and her ears press back again. "I told you, anyway—it wasn't normal, is all. The wolf didn't do it, it wouldn't—" 

"I believe you, calm down." Dirk crosses his arms, golden eyes flaring brighter for a second. "Could you smell magic on it?" 

Jade shakes her head, lower lip trembling, and it's Hal who answers. "The thing was ripped almost to pieces when I had her look at it; I could barely taste traces of the magic, and I have more practice sniffing that out. Besides, _her_ magic barely leaves traces, when it's something she's stolen." 

"She?" you ask. As soon as you do, you flinch at the impact of some magic against the wards. 

Dirk grimaces, slipping past John to wrap an arm around your shoulders. With him this close his magic's all you can sense, blotting out whatever else is assaulting the barrier. "Another fae." 

"A fucking bitch," Hal corrects. "I used to belong to her—" 

"You don't anymore," Dirk interjects, crossing his arms as if he's preparing to have Hal start an argument. Surprisingly, all the doppelganger does is incline their head in silent agreement, stepping back as if to give Dirk the metaphorical spotlight. "She owned Hal before they really were Hal, yes. Our brother and I—" 

"Bro?" you ask, and you try not to shiver as you ask but you do anyway, and Dirk squeezes your shoulder gently as he shakes his head. 

"Our other brother. His brother too; our genealogy is fucked to hell and back, obviously..." 

"Our genealogy isn't the issue here." Hal tilts their head thoughtfully, then adds, "...Dirk and I can be called brothers, by the level of association of magic that binds us. Our older brother and the one the dragon killed, they really were siblings. At least until that bastard made his choice to leave. But we have the same relationship with our brother as you have with your Bro, —" 

You have completely and utterly lost track of where they're going with this. Thankfully, there's a thump from somewhere down the hall, which distracts Hal enough to stop talking and look. 

It's Dave, of course. He looks half-awake and wholly unnerved, and before you can step over to touch the sigil and drain your power back out of the barrier he walks right through the door without even slowing, stepping right over to you and wrapping his arms around you like you're the only thing that can keep him safe. 

Any thought of asking how he did that flies right out of your head when you feel how badly he's trembling. You hug him back, and Cronus is the one to point out what everyone must be thinking. 

"Vwell, _that_ isn't supposed to happen."


	9. Chapter 9

John touches the barrier again as you pull Dave over to the chair that Jake pulls out for you; any worries that you had over your magic failing evaporate as he yelps again. The wards are still up, yes; they just...

They don't affect your twin. 

Which is wrong. They affect _you,_ after all. 

You worry at that puzzle for a moment, then dismiss it. Dave is still trembling in your arms, after all. 

"What happened?" you ask him quietly, not loosening your grip one bit, and he just shakes his head and clings to you like he's drowning. "Dave, what _happened_?" 

"Let me see him," Dirk offers, and before you can even look up there's the solid sound of Hal smacking him. "Fuck— _hey_!" 

"You can't just geas him, you dumb piece of shit!" 

"Fuck you, you don't know I was going to—" 

Dave's flinching each time one of them speaks, and you can't bear that. Not now. Not when there's no reason for him to be afraid. Your magic is unavailable at the moment, yes, tied up in the wards, but _Dave_ is still full of magic. That, you know without having to look. 

There is absolutely no reason to think this will work. 

That's never stopped you before, though. 

You lean your head down, pressing your face into your twin's hair and closing your eyes. This close to him, you don't need your normal sight to forge the link that lets you _See_ , not really; it's as much an act of will as anything, and you push at Dave with your mind, a request to be let in and a request for the magic that will let you _make_ Dirk and Hal be quiet, _make_ them stop scaring your brother. You ask without words, for the ability to protect him.

Dave sobs, his hands tightening on your shoulders until it hurts. And power rushes from him, and into you. 

You _See_ it, even with your eyes closed—the vibrant red that's _Dave_ , shot through with dark magenta that feels like—

Like—

It's not just the desire to make Hal and Dirk shut up that prompts you to hurl the magic Dave's given you outwards from yourself. No, those tiny pink threads are malignant, powerful, _horrifying_ , and you instinctively need them _out_ of you. 

A second later, and they're gone. 

But. 

There's still more in Dave. You can _See_ it. 

So you don't stop with just the power he gives you willingly: you _drag_ more out of him, chasing each tiny magenta thread and casting it out into the almost-overloaded wards that surround you. They crackle and flare into white-hot pinpoints when they hit that barrier, and you sob as each one goes out. 

By the time you chase them all down, you're on the floor rather than the chair, exhausted and clinging to your twin. You've drained Dave, you can tell; he's half-curled around you, eyes just barely open, not enough energy left to try to hold on to you. 

To your _Sight_ , the wards flicker and go out. You can't quite remember what that means. 

Someone else can take care of it. You close your eyes and let everything other than Dave's warm weight go away.

* * *

The nice dark silence does not last nearly long enough. Well, the darkness does, but the silence doesn't. 

" _Don't_ touch them." 

"You can't touch them either, _Hal_. You're basically me, it—" 

"For _fuck's_ sake, I swear by all that's holy you will fucking die on that _fucking_ hill! You're going to say that one too many times and the powers that be _will_ decide that you're me and I'm you, and my geas _will_ let me fucking _strangle_ you! I—" 

( _Smack_.)

"I _vwill_ hit you too, Dirk. Close your fuckin' mouth." 

Oh thank god. Quiet. 

For a minute, anyway. Then Cronus's (much calmer) voice, closer to you. Like he's sat down on the floor. 

"Rose? Uh, Dawve?" 

...yeah, you're not up to answering. Everything _hurts,_ if you try to move or think; the easiest and least painful thing to do is press your nose harder into Dave's hair, keep your eyes shut and try to will existence in general away. 

Which does not work very well. At least all you hear from Cronus is a frustrated/worried sigh, one that you feel on your skin as a cool, sea-scented breeze. 

Hmm. That actually helps. Well, a little. 

"Cronus," Hal says quietly, with no trace of the irritation you'd expect from them at being smacked, "if you touch them, you'll get just as fucked up as we would." 

"And vwhat's your bright idea, doppelganger? Just leawve the kids on the floor?" 

Hal does not, apparently, have an answer for that. In the minute or so of silence, you wonder where Jake is. Taking the kids who don't live here back to their parents, probably. Possibly getting scolded and/or questioned by Jane, if that's who's home to take charge of John. It could be a while before he gets back. 

Can you just go to sleep? Do you have enough energy to go to sleep? (Yes, that seems like a stupid question, but you're not sure it is. _Awake_ to _asleep_ is a change in state, and you've drained yourself badly enough that you're not sure your body and mind can handle that change.) 

"Hal." 

"Yes, Dirk?" 

"Get Dave's crows. _Don't_ wake the dragon. Name your own price." 

"A taste of your blood," they say without a pause, and you feel the shift in the air that means they've gone. 

Dirk huffs out a breath. Cronus makes a small, concerned noise, then asks, "...howv much is a _taste,_ exactly?" 

"Don't worry about it." 

Oh dear. When Dirk says those particular words in that particular tone, it's usually time to worry about it. Whatever it is. 

You don't really have enough time to start worrying about it, though, because you feel that shift again and Hal curses in a language you don't recognize. Their voice is almost drowned out by cawing and the sound of wings beating at the air, though; you have no idea how two young birds can make this much noise. 

"Let 'em go!" Dirk snaps, and Hal must do just that, because a second later talons dig into your shoulder for support, and a crow is making soft crooning sounds in your ear. 

Even with your eyes closed, you're seeing Dave's bright red magic again. This time it's textured, feather-soft and tinged with black at the edges. It...well, it feels like the bird that was storing it. 

Oh thank all that's holy. You're already less empty. 

"Hal—" Dirk starts.

"Yeah, I'm kind of not actually entitled to that, brother dearest." There's a wry twist to Hal's tone, a rare admission that they've slipped up somewhere. "Incoming." 

"Wvait, wvhat—" 

You still don't actually have enough energy to open your eyes, but you hear the sound that Karkat makes when he shoves the door open. Even without being able to _see_ through his eyes, you can imagine what he's seeing—Dave tangled up with you on the floor, both of you still and limp enough that there's no way to tell if you're breathing—and the knowledge makes the harsh, broken sound that tears itself out of the dragon's throat that much more awful. 

"Karkat, _don't_ —" 

You're not sure if that's Dirk or Hal; they sound much the same when they're this alarmed. Whichever one it is doesn't get to finish the warning, either; Karkat snarls, and the words are cut off by a pained yelp. 

This is _ridiculous._ If you could just—

Nope, you're still not doing anything. It hurts to try to open your eyes; the crow perched on your shoulder must sense it, because it caws and pecks your ear. Hard. 

Your twin, though, is apparently not in quite the same state as you are, because when Karkat forces out a noise that might almost be Dave's name, he groans and rolls away. Or maybe he's in _exactly_ the same state, because when you force your eyes open he's on his knees, face twisted up with enough pain that you want to scream for him, one arm wrapped around his stomach as if that's going to lessen the pain and the other reaching out for his dragon. 

And Karkat is terrifyingly close to shifting to his dragon form right now. The red-eyed dragon shadow is too dark, too solid, too _real,_ its wings beating and sinuous neck twisting as the boy struggles to get free of Dirk and Hal's grasp. 

(Both the fae and the doppelganger are bleeding, Dirk from a set of scratches down the side of his neck and Hal from what you're fairly sure is a bite on their wrist. You're amazed that the dragon's done this much damage.) 

"Karkat—" 

That's all that Dave gets out, but really? It's all he needs, because Karkat twists in some way that doesn't make sense, slips away from the hands holding him, and hits the floor right next to Dave, legs folding underneath him as he wraps his arms around your twin and pulls him as close as he possibly can, sobs and growls mixing into a constant stream of painfully relieved sound. 

Cronus grabs Dirk before he can reach for the two of them, holding him back. Hal doesn't require restraint, although from the look on their face they really do want to step forward just as badly. 

Instead, they very carefully step around your twin and the dragon, coming over to kneel beside you instead. They don't even try to touch you, though; all they do is sit there, looking down at you with a worried frown. 

Worry looks weird on them. 

"I'm alive," you inform them. The crow still on your shoulder pecks your ear again, and Hal snorts and reaches over to tap its head with one finger. 

"I know you're alive." 

"You don't look like you do know that, actually." 

"Mmm. Stop arguing with me and lie still for another minute, alright? Spes still has a bit more to give you." 

You have no idea what they mean by that...but staying still sounds like a good idea. For the moment.


	10. Chapter 10

Hal sits there completely immobile for another few minutes—until the crow makes a sharp noise like a twig breaking and takes flight, talons digging almost painfully into your shoulder. Before she lands again on Dave's shoulder, they've scooped you up off the floor, their hands gentle and steady but so firm that there's no question of breaking their grip as they hug you up against their chest. Not that you'd want to get away; you might not feel so painfully empty, thanks to whatever the crow's given you, but the doppelganger is warm and _safe._

The thought of safety leads directly to thoughts of how long you had to know Hal and Dirk before they meant safety to you, though. Which leads to the remarkably painful consideration of the fact that Dave almost certainly _can't_ feel safe right now. Not with Dirk and Cronus, who're (thankfully) not trying to touch him and Karkat yet. Maybe the dragon gives him safety, but...

He's your twin. You should be the one helping him. 

Hal resists your attempt to twist out of their hold for perhaps three seconds; you think it's more out of an automatic need to keep you safe than any desire to control you. (That could be your refusal to think of them at all like your deceased brother, though.) But they let you go, watch you with those brighter-than-human crimson eyes as you kneel next to Dave. 

Your twin doesn't raise his head, but the dragon meets your eyes over Dave's shoulder, pupils narrowing to cat-slits as he considers you with a frown you can't read the emotion behind. His dark shadow bares teeth just as black as the rest of it when you scoot closer to touch Dave's shoulder, but Karkat himself doesn't move. Not at all. 

The dragon-shadow probably shows his feelings more than his face, though. So you take your hand away, and you ask him quietly enough that the question stays between the two of you and Dave, "...can I?" 

Karkat just looks baffled. As if he's never been asked permission for anything before. As if he doesn't really know _what_ you're asking. 

After a minute, though, he gets it. After another moment, he nods, and you wrap your arms around both of them.

* * *

Strange. After maybe ten minutes of sitting there on the floor, holding onto your brother and the dragon, you feel...normal again? Which isn't right at all; it takes longer than ten minutes for you to recover from draining yourself. You know it does; Bro's tested your limits before, seen how much you could give without collapsing, and how long it would take you to regain your strength after you did. 

_It's Dave,_ something in your mind whispers, and you can't quite convince yourself that that's not right. 

Eventually—around the time that your power settles in the hollow place inside you that it's meant to fill—Dave shifts slightly and sighs, finally raising his head from Karkat's shoulder. He meets your eyes for a moment, his own not quite focused yet; then he blinks, leans over to the dragon, presses a quick kiss on his cheek. 

"That was fuckin' _awful,_ " your twin mumbles as you pull away to sit back on your heels. He's still not quite back to normal; when Karkat shifts to pull him into his lap it's more like he's moving a rag doll than a person. "Rose—" 

"I'm sorry—" It hadn't even occurred to you to feel guilty until just now, but now that that subject's been brought up? It feels like you're going to drown in the knowledge that you hurt him. 

But Dave shakes his head slowly, like even that small movement is a struggle, and closes his eyes again as Karkat reaches up to pet through his hair. "Shut _up_. 's not you, 's _her._ " 

"...her?" 

"The Empress," Hal says, from the doorway. They've retreated fairly far, and for a moment you wonder why until you see their hand resting casually on the warding sigil, their ambient magic creating a barrier so weak you doubt it would stop a human walking through. "She walks in darkness and sleeps in deep water. The Empress, she who steals life. The—" 

Cronus, who does not seem to be impressed by Hal's proclaiming, leans down to pick up one of the crows (who've both moved on to examine the floor for dropped food) in both hands, momentarily pinning its wings flat against its body. Before it can finish the startled and offended squawk, he's tossed it at Hal. 

Dave opens his eyes just in time to see the bird in flight towards Hal, and the brokenly terrified noise he makes has your own breath catching in your throat. The worst part is that you understand _why_ —the _why_ is that Bro would skewer anything that dared to threaten him, even if it's just a bird. Even if it wasn't the bird's fault. 

Hal merely ducks. Then they sigh, as the crow lands on their head anyway, grabbing a piece of white hair to yank at. "Sweetheart, _please._ " 

The crow, predictably, does not respond to gentle admonition. It stays put as Hal walks to the center of the room, kneeling next to Dave and bowing their head so he can reach without struggling. 

Not that he does. If he moves at all, it's only to press himself closer to Karkat, either to protect or be protected. You're not sure which. 

"Dave," Hal says, oh-so-patiently, "can we maybe get her off before she actually pulls my hair out? She— _ow_!"   
Your twin flinches again at the doppelganger's yelp, and it startles a growl out of Karkat, but you can't really blame them; the crow (Vita? Hal said she was the female) has a tuft of white hair in her beak, making soft crooning sounds around it. Somehow, you don't think she'll be satisfied with just that much, though. 

And she isn't. Vita opens her beak, pecking down at poor Hal's head again—

And Dave reaches up and grabs her, pinning her wings to her sides just like Cronus did a moment ago. She caws and pecks him too, but only once, because by the time she pulls back for a second peck Karkat has his other hand gently covering her eyes. If she's displeased with being nestled between the dragon and your twin, she doesn't really show it.

Hal sits back on their heels, head tilting as they watch Karkat and Dave. "You're still afraid of me." 

"I'm not—" Dave begins, and Karkat cuts him off with a soft growl. "Okay, yeah, I'm scared, I'm _sorry_ —" 

"Sorry? Don't be. I should be sorry; if we'd fulfilled our familial obligations properly, you—" 

"Only one of us can be on a guilt trip at once, Hal," Dirk points out, and shrugs at the incensed look the doppelganger gives him. 

"True, but you've had a long enough turn, let me take some blame." That said, they focus on Dave again, hesitating for a moment before they keep talking. "Dave." 

"Yeah." 

"You're allowed to be afraid of me, and of Dirk. Whatever we do that scares you—" 

"You don't _do_ anything, I just—"

" _If_ we do something that frightens you worse. Or if anyone else does something. You tell one of us, or you tell Rose if you can't talk to us, or you tell the dragon to tell us. I _know_ he's not afraid of anything, are you, Karkat?" 

"Fuck off." 

"Exactly." Hal smiles and leans over to ruffle Dave's hair. "You're ours, our family, both of you. We'll do whatever we can to make sure you're alright." 

Dave blinks up at him, considers for a second, then nods slowly. Then he says, "Tell me about the Empress." 

Hal recoils as if they've been struck. Dirk bites out an obscenity in a language you don't know, and not-quite-lunges from where he's standing by the table, towards the ward mark on the wall. He slams his hand down flat on it, filling the barriers out with power...

Just in time for _something_ to spark against it. Dark pink sparks. 

...ah. 

You think you just figured out what causes that pulse you keep catching with your _Sight._ Or if not _what_ , then _who._


End file.
